


Love Burning Alive

by Ratana



Series: Soulbound Lovers - A Sheith Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Complete for now but might continue, Keith (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, mostly - Freeform, sort of canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 00:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11498094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratana/pseuds/Ratana
Summary: Keith gets a soul mark at the tender age of six years old. Sometimes he thinks that's the only reason he's made it this far.





	Love Burning Alive

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy. Not beta read so I hope there aren't too many errors.

“Papa! Papa!” Keith called, scrambling through his small house. He managed not to barrel over his father when he found him in the garage, working on the hovercycle as per usual. 

“What is it baby boy?” The man asked, immediately pulling himself from under the machine to look at his son. 

“My arm! Look! This just showed up!” He said, wide eyed as he stuck his tiny arm, the left, out in front of his dad. He was six, but he’d be seven just the next day. But in place of blank flesh, was an intricate design, swirled along his flesh, from his wrist until halfway above his bicep. It shined in an iridescent purple, and Keith had already decided it was his new favorite color. 

Surprise, followed by elation shone on his father’s face. He wove him the story of soulmates that night for his bedtime story. How they were incredibly rare, and that he should be very proud that he had something so very special. The media was full of stories of soulmates, fairy-tales and lullabies. Gorgeous fantasy and silly rom-coms. They were everywhere, and while most people could only wish and dream, he had his very own. He didn’t care about all the mushy stuff, or so he’d say when he got older, but he did know just looking at the marks filled him with a sense of joy and calmness he didn’t otherwise feel usually.

___

Keith showed his new mark to all of his friends on the playground in school the next day. His peers as well as his teachers all fawned over it. They were all excited to see one in person, and whispering about who it could be was the topic of the week. 

He got teased for it of course, some of the sillier kids naming random students just to embarrass him, or them. Keith didn’t really mind that, he was too excited about the prospect of meeting this entity to really care. 

It was the first kid that tried to mar it that sparked his rage. A boy a little older than him holding him down and ‘ruining’ it with a permanent marker. As a seven year old boy, Keith really truly believed the marking to be permanent. That his mark was ruined forever. It was probably the angriest he had ever been at the time, he hauled up and punched the other kid as hard as he could before they were broken up by the teachers. 

Privately, after his father came to pick him up, after the stupid meeting about why fighting, for whatever reason, was wrong, and they were in the car on the way home, Keith wailed. Sobbed the whole way home even if his father insisted that they could get the mark off. 

He wouldn’t settle until it was all the way gone, even though his father wanted to give his skin a break after all the scrubbing. Even if he skin was a little raw in places he was glad that the mark truly was okay. Even at seven years old, he could sense how important, how special, the person who it represented was.

___

As he grew older, Keith found himself alone. Confused. His mother had never been in the picture, but he never imagined he’d lose his father too. 

He’d been staying with a family friend, his father was out of town. It didn’t happen too often, but he hadn’t been able to get out of this one. His father went missing. No one could really explain it. He’d gone to his hotel and never showed up to his meeting the next morning, his coworkers found his bed unslept in, but all of his belongings, including his cell phone and wallet, still in the room.

It was a week with his friend, confused, and not understanding why. A well dressed woman kneeling down in front of him, despite being nearly thirteen, crumbled his life.

“While the investigation is ongoing we’ll have to take you to stay with some nice people for a while.” She was nice, trying and failing to be overly sensitive. It was clear the woman was more used to working with younger kids than him. He understood the implication well enough, but he didn’t complain or throw a fit when they took him to his first placement.

It was a nice couple. Or they seemed that way at the beginning. Warm and sweet, and a little too ‘considerate’ of how he might be feeling. And Honestly Keith could have imagined himself staying there for a long while. At least until he saw the little mark behind the wife’s ear. It was faded, almost resembling a scar but it was a shade of pink he’d never seen a scar turn, and it shimmered in the light sometimes. It stopped abruptly though, and there seemed like it should curl around to her neck, but it didn’t. He’d never noticed it before, she’d always worn her hair down, covering but they had been working on her garden and she tied her hair back. Her husband had not been home at the time.

“Lena? You have a soul mark, like me?” He asked. Honestly he liked gardening. It gave him something to focus on other than what was going on with his dad. The investigation that was still coming up blank. He knew what that meant. 

She had stopped abruptly, bringing her hand up to cover the teeny mark at her neck. Her face got very sad after that. It was jarring because he’d never seen her anything less than joyous. It was shortly after he realized it was likely just a mask.

“I did.” She said with a quiet nod. “It was much prettier. Little pink flowers to the back of my neck and down to my shoulders.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “This is just...what’s left. My soulmate died. Amelia. She got hit by a car when she was riding her bike to school. We’d been best friends all our life. We got our soul marks on the same day when we were eleven years old. She died when we were nineteen. A month before our wedding.” She said gently. It was heartbreak clear in her voice and Keith didn’t know what to say, but she was crying and he could only offer a quiet shoulder to cry on. 

“Why did you marry Vincent?” He asked curiously.

“I love him, I really do. It’s not...the same but. Different doesn’t mean not as good you know? He doesn’t like seeing it though, or me talking about her.” She said with the shrug of her shoulder. “I’m happy. As happy as I can be at least.” She said with a bright smile pulled back onto her features. “Especially happy you’re here.” She said nudging him, and he could almost believe it. “When you find your soulmate. Cherish every moment you have with them.” She said with a small smile and Keith nodded easily.

It could have been the start of something great. He could have been happy there he knows it, but the very next day he got into a fight at school. One of the regular bullies. Repeating over and over that his father ran away from him, just like his mother. Or that he was dead. Keith lost it. Broke the other kid’s nose. Though he managed to get by without getting suspended.

The night was different though, after he went to bed the house was quiet for a long while. The sounds of chairs moving and dishes clinking in the sink weren’t blended with quiet tones of Lena humming, or his foster parents chatting quietly. Instead it was porcelain clinking against metal with just a bit too much force and a tense atmosphere around them. 

“The kid has anger issues Lena! We can’t keep him here if he is just getting into fights every time someone picks on him!” It was Vincent, and Keith’s stomach dropped. Immediately he curled into himself.

“He lost his father! You can’t expect him not to act out!” Lena’s words helped him settle somewhat but there was still a pit in his stomach. The voices he heard after that were hushed and inaudible to him from his bedroom though. He didn’t have to wait long to find out who won that argument, the same well dressed woman from before came back to the house. 

She sugar coated everything she said, made up lies even, but he was still removed from the placement. Brought to a group home after that. 

There were a few other placements in the meantime, but they never stuck. Anger issues often being the most cited reasoning, but he was getting better. He tried, to ignore to restrain. His coping methods just weren’t always enough. 

___

The Garrison for him was about an escape. He was drawn to the speed and the stars and he’s always been good at flying, his father had taken him out on his old hovercycle when he was still a child. 

Joining was a fresh start. The uniform itched against his skin as he stood in line, and did his drills. The first few days were brutal. The physical training was more than easy for him, but the flight simulations were intense. They made his head a little foggy afterwards. But the worst was the hours he had to keep, he was used to getting up early, but this was next level.

It was the third day, bone tired and shuffling back to the showers before he turned in for the night that he properly met Shiro. Well no.

He walked into, straight on ran into his back he was so out of it. Shiro was startled but he was nice. “First week is always the worst. You’ll get used to the schedule.” He said. 

Maybe it was because he was already out of it, or maybe fate, but the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled down at him made his heart do a somersault. Shiro set him right and he was back on his mission. 

For some reason he was drawn to Shiro, though they didn’t have any classes together. They didn’t even share a living space being two separate ranks. They shared meal times and off times though, so they made up for it by that. He found himself genuinely enjoying himself often.

___

It took two weeks. Keith had been walking through the halls, on a mission from one of his instructors when he caught it. A passing glance that made him stop in his tracks. Shiro was training in the gym area, his jacket happened to be off, the first time he’d seen him outside of full uniform. Purple marks donned his right arm in a mirror image of Keith’s. 

Keith could feel the earth spinning. It took him several minutes to steady himself, but when he did he made a move to enter the gym.

“Kogane! Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Was barked at him by a drill instructor before he even had a chance to budge the door. He’d forgotten all about what it was he was meant to be doing in the first place.

“Yes sir, sorry sir.” He responded, pulling into a more rigid posture. 

“Too late now. Get to your next class. You’ll be doing laps with me after hours for dilly dallying you hear?” The man responded and Keith nodded.

“Yes sir.” It was a quick walk to his next class, but he honestly couldn’t say what he was supposed to be learning for the rest of that day. 

It took him another week for him to build up the courage to tell Shiro about his discovery. Well it wasn’t so much words. They had down time, he often liked to spend time with Shiro during them so it wasn’t odd, but they were in the library. The quiet as they read, his feet propped over Shiro’s lap, was pleasant but he was bubbling with anxiety. 

He didn’t tell Shiro so much as claw his uniform jacket off to show off the marking when the suspense was suddenly too much to handle. There was no verbal response, just the flutter books falling to the floor and suddenly warm lips against his. The feeling made his head spin and he had to grip the shoulders of Shiro’s jacket. It felt like ages, but also only seconds before a quiet, albeit annoyed, “Ahem” reached their ears.

They had to scrub down every bathroom in the compound by hand for ‘inappropriate conduct’ but it was worth it. 

Happiness wasn’t something Keith had been familiar with anymore but it’s what he got. Their days off spent lounging in Shiro’s bunk. The feel of his warmth. Shiro smelled like thyme and mint, a soap he’d learned later on, and waking up to it from naps together was his absolute favorite thing.

He loved sparring with him, he actually challenged him. They worked together like they were designed to. And maybe they were, they were soulmates after all.

___

Keith had been sitting in the library, Shiro was a bit late for their ‘date’ but he had a meeting just before they were set to meet so he wasn’t worried. He wasn’t. At least he hadn’t been until Shiro walked in, expression grave.

“I got selected for the Kerberos mission.” He said. Keith’s eyes widened, and he practically buried himself in Shiro’s shoulder, clinging tight.

“I’m happy for you, it’s a great opportunity.” He managed to force out, though his voice sounded broken and strained even to his own ears. 

“Keith, it’s okay. It’s only a year. I’ll be back in no time at all, you’ll see.” He said, voice quiet and soothing as he rubbed his bag. Keith didn’t say anything else, he didn’t trust his voice. Didn’t trust his mouth not to betray him, because the people who leave him don’t come back. He slept in Shiro’s bunk the next few weeks leading up to Shiro’s send off, and while it broke about a hundred Garrison regulations, no one said anything about it.

___

“The team that were undertaking the Kerberos mission are officially missing in action and presumed dead. A counselor will be on site for the foreseeable future should any of you need someone to assist you.” The voice was cold and clinical and immediately it made Keith’s blood boil with rage.

The classroom around him erupted into whispers and suddenly it all felt too much. The instructor seemed angry, he caught bits of words, “cruel” and “soul mate” stuck in his ears so he knew they were talking about him but it didn’t matter. He had to rip off his uniform jacket just to stare at the marks that donned his skin.

Keith was sure the fact that they were still unmarred was the only thing keeping him together. That meant Shiro had to still be alive, Right? He’d looked Lena up that night anyways and called her for the first time since he had been removed from his foster placement. He cried for the first time since then as well.

___

Training was really the only thing keeping him together. Every rep, every hit kept him grounded. He’d been sparring with a classmate. His brain shut off for a while when it came to fighting. Working out his feelings, or whatever this was. 

He was half way through a punch when everything just stopped. Mid motion he caught the mark on his arm. Gone. Most of it anyways. It cut off abruptly from just above his elbow, jagged and marred, and then bare skin. 

He doesn’t remember what happened for the rest of the day from that. Nothing until he woke up the next day. Something about the reports seemed off, but he couldn’t place it.

He knew he was throwing his life away, but what was the point? He was angry, so very angry. These people got Shiro, and the others, killed and they weren’t even sorry about it.

Insubordination and Anger Management Issues. Grief Counseling Heavily Suggested.

He’d seen his official expulsion coming before it hit his hands. It would be so much easier just to stop. But he was a survivor. Even if it was easier he couldn’t bring himself to be anything other than that. He holed up in the desert and he made things work. Spent his days bumbling about. He couldn’t look at the remnants of the mark without feeling physically ill, and it burned. That he couldn’t ignore. Sometimes so bad that he had to lay down and scream until it subsided. It was hollow. Everything he did from then was just aimless, but there was a weird energy moving him forward. He’d get his answers. No matter what they were.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are loved. If this gets enough traction I might continue this.


End file.
